This directory will serve soley for information purposes. It is designed to help new forum members/new students/people new to the arts find a school in their area that might be appropriate for their needs/wants regarding instruction in the arts.

Please do not use this as an opportunity to shamelessly promote/sell/pimp your art/school/club. A link, brief description, and/or comment is all that is needed to be helpful.

Everyone, if this project is to be a true aid, we will need everyone to contribute. If you are happy with your current training facility, please list it here. It may well benefit someone who is attempting to get started in the arts or someone who is looking for a good change.

All we are doing is providing info, the rest is up to the individual.

Scottie

_________________________"The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be."

I, for one, have been back and forth on this kind of listing. It can be good, bad, or just useless. Whatever- it depends on the contributions of the good and well intentioned membership.

One thing that could improve it would be to specify for WHOM the school is good. Schools train all kinds of people. Should I move away from my school and not able to find another school in commuting distance affiliated with the same organizations, would want to ask certain questions: How many students are over age 50? How well does the school do at retaining it's own black belts? Are there good training opportunities for black belts in the school? How much attention is paid to tournaments for kids? Self defense for women? How many community outreach programs are there for child safety in scouts/schools/ churces? Is there a heavy emphasis on high intensity high contact training suitable for younger men in law enforcement or serious competition? Is there appropriate learning/training for less intense people who are all done getting hurt (or want to be all done getting hurt)? What about fees? Do newbies get a break during which they can pay monthly before they have to sign a contract? Are there contracts? How does one get out of a contract? Are there opportunities for private study? Is there open mat time for people to come in and practice on their own or with friends? Affiliations? Style? You can add your own questions.

Anyway, I'd say ANNOTATING your nominations would make such a listing far more useful. Then, maybe we could check with administration to find out about listing these select schools regionally so that if a person from Massachusetts (abreviated MA )were looking for a recommendation, they could find it more easily. Such listings by other organizations are generally done regionally.

On the first page of this forum alone there are 4 requests from new people looking for schools/arts to train in. If you enjoy training where you train presently, please list the information for your school, using the same format as others have used.

As many bad schools as we have come across, we should be more than willing to let people know about a few possibilities that do offer quality training.

Scottie

_________________________"The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be."